Remote controllers are developed in response to people's demands for convenient control of different articles and appliances. Currently, most of the general electric appliances, such as television (TV) sets, air conditioners, domestic audio/visual (AV) apparatus and fans, all are provided along with a specific remote controller therefor, so that users may conveniently control these electric appliances from a remote location with their respective remote controllers.
According to some statistical data, modern people watching TV will switch from one channel to another channel within less than fifteen minutes in average. Meanwhile, it is also found more and more consumers of different ages use various kinds of AV apparatus for largely extended time everyday. All these facts reflect that remote controllers are deeply relied on by modern people.
The currently available remote controllers for various electric and electronic devices are different in specifications. The manufacturers of different electric and electronic products design the remote controllers only for use with their own products. Each type of remote controller uses a unique infrared frequency to remotely control its corresponding electric, electronic or AV product. Thus, remote controllers for different products are not exchangeable for use with other products. Even the remote controllers for different products manufactured by different departments of the same manufacturer are not exchangeable for use.
In view that various kinds of portable electronic devices, such as the smartphones, are now widely used by and carried about with most people in the modern society, it would be highly appreciated if such portable electronic devices can be used to replace the conventional remote controllers for remotely controlling electric, electronic and AV products of different types, brands and models. By using a portable electronic device also as a device to remotely control various electric, electronic and AV products, a lot of resources consumed for manufacturing different remote controllers for different products can be saved and the rate of replacement of remote controllers can be reduced to meet the requirement of environmental protection.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop a portable electronic device based user-definable remote-control interface system and operating method thereof, in order to eliminate the problems with the conventional remote controllers.